found themselves virtually alone high up in the rebarbative Caucasus
Of course, to be fully formed—to grow up—means to be tainted by this mode of communicating, as the narrator is in a catechism with her mother about their departure for another town
Perec was the heir to this mystical—kabbalistic—practice, which he secularized and refined through his association with the Oulipo (an acronym for ouvroir de littérature potentielle, “the workshop for potential literature”)
“Sleeveless errand” is superannuated slang for a fool’s errand, or fruitless endeavor.
Chester returned to New York, where he became one of the foremost critics of the ’60s, writing witty, scabrous reviews for The New York Review of Books, Partisan Review, and Commentary
